A Review of the OvidSP Platform

Abstract

As part of its mission to advance the technological capabilities of its products, Ovid introduced a redesign of its database platform in fall 2007. The platform redesign brought new features and enhancements to an already robust system. The transition between Ovid Gateway and the OvidSP platform was orchestrated seamlessly. With the OvidSP platform came innovative changes such as the incorporation of Natural Language Processing associated with the new Basic Search mode. Discussed are OvidSP features, advantages and disadvantages of the new platform, customizable settings, and future direction.

Search strategies–identified reports on “off-label” drug use in MEDLINE

“…We chose MEDLINE because its usage is widely accepted by clinicians, health care researchers, and librarians. OvidSP interface was selected because of its flexible and customizable feature [15]. We designed a Microsoft (MS) Access database and stored the characteristics of retrieved records, such as author(s), title, journal, and publication year by each search query.…”

Personalization in library databases: not persuasive enough?

“…Key changes include the addition of some personalization features such as quick access to favorite titles, subjects, and alerts as well as recent actions performed. Similarly, in reviewing the OvidSP platform, FitzSimmons and Gross (2008) discuss customizable account preference settings that take advantage of Web 2.0 features such as RSS (really simple syndication) to receive search alerts and eTOCs (electronic Table of Contents). The authors note Ovid's intention to provide personalization tools so that users may search “the way they want to search”.…”